Compared to store and forward, this technique reduces latency through the switch and relies on the destination devices for error handling.
Adaptive switching dynamically selects between cut-through and store and forward behaviors based on current network conditions.
CRC errors are detected in a cut-through switch and indicated by marking the corrupted frame EOF field as "invalid".
The destination devices (host or storage) sees the invalid EOF and discards the frame prior to sending it to the application or LUN.
Discarding corrupted frames by the destination device is a 100% reliable method for error handling and is mandated by Fibre Channel standards driven by Technical Committee T11.
[citation needed] Cut-through switching is very popular in InfiniBand networks, since these are often deployed in environments where latency is a prime concern, such as supercomputer clusters.
[citation needed] Cut-through switching has been applied to make block-relay lower latency in Bitcoin.